Use of complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) is associated with a lower quality of life (QoL) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other chronic rheumatic diseases, caution Mexican researchers.
“The present results serve as a warning to healthcare professionals caring for rheumatic disease patients that they need to explore CAM use and use context in their patients,” say José Alvarez-Nemegyei and co-workers, from the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Mérida, Yucatán.
The team collated information on QoL, function, and cumulated damage for 445 Mexican rheumatic patients with RA (n=64), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, n=192), fibromyalgia (n=34), or knee osteoarthritis (n=155).
Over half (55.9%) of the patients reported using CAM. These patients used an average of 2.2 types of CAM each, most commonly herbal remedies, non-prescribed vitamins, and food supplements. Other CAM reported included prayer, yoga, homeopathy, and acupuncture.
Analysis showed that patients who used CAM had a longer disease duration than nonusers (96 vs 72 months) and a longer time to rheumatologist referral (31 vs 18 months).
Furthermore, CAM use predicted overall poorer scores in the Short Form (SF)-36 QoL assessment, as well as poorer scores in the physical function, general health, bodily pain, and social functioning domains.
Of note, patients with SLE who used CAM also showed greater cumulated damage than patients who had not used CAM.
Writing in the journal Clinical Rheumatology, the researchers conclude that their research “highlights the need for more research on CAM modalities in chronic rheumatic diseases utilizing strict scientific standards to determine which CAM are potentially damaging, which are efficacious, and how they can be incorporated into therapeutic approaches.”
interesting.... but not surprising..
good points..